Pistol grip 3-axis gimbal stabilizer

[Fredrik Lyhne]

I received my Pilotfly H2 yesterday but unfortunately there's not much to report because I haven't got it working properly yet. I balanced it and it seemed to be ok, but when I started it the motors were working heavily causing severe rolling shutter and unusable footage. After trying different lenses and setups waiting for customer support they told me it could be the old firmware. 

After installing USB driver, the Android app and Mac software which need to be activated via terminal it turns out the upgrade doesn't work on Mac. Then I was told to download Parallell to run Windows. So I did that but I obviously don't have a Windows license as a Mac user so that's not exactly helpful either. 

I have to borrow a Windows PC and see if I get get it working. 

In my last email I told them that I still believe it's a good product but I am really disappointed it doesn't work out of the box, as advertised. 

They told I could return it and get my money back...

 

[Cinegain]

Sorry to hear that! That kinda blows!

I do believe Dave had the same issue and only managed to get it right after they showed him exactly how to balance the camera. But I take it, you've already got that down. I hope firmware can fix it! I hope, because the shipment had to come all the way from across the world, that nothing happened during transport leading to this outcome. Either way... it sucks. Atleast I guess I'm glad they're responding promptly, although, it should've just worked with a Mac, I take it that's roughly what 70% of the people getting these are using (PC myself though)?

I hope you can work it out and able to start playing around with it soon. Fingers crossed!

[sgreszcz]

I just ended up selling my (unused) Beholder DS1 on Ebay.  After joining the Beholder Facebook group, I realised that all the necessary tweaking wasn't for me due to lack of time and it is also one more thing to carry around.  I think I'll rely on my E-M5II (and maybe the new Gx80) for stabilisation for now and look at the DJI Osmo if I need something for more dynamic movement.

[Fredrik Lyhne]

14 hours ago, Cinegain said:

Sorry to hear that! That kinda blows!

I do believe Dave had the same issue and only managed to get it right after they showed him exactly how to balance the camera. But I take it, you've already got that down. I hope firmware can fix it! I hope, because the shipment had to come all the way from across the world, that nothing happened during transport leading to this outcome. Either way... it sucks. Atleast I guess I'm glad they're responding promptly, although, it should've just worked with a Mac, I take it that's roughly what 70% of the people getting these are using (PC myself though)?

I hope you can work it out and able to start playing around with it soon. Fingers crossed!

Thanks! I balanced it watching a video from Cheesycam with H1 and another one from Pilotfly. It's supposed to be a 2-minute balance so I don't think that's the problem. Hopefully I can get it sorted with the update today. If not then it's probably a faulty unit and I have to send it back. 

I think they buy the 32 bit boards from Basecam Electronics who also makes the software. They don't have IOS app either, only Android. I agree that's very weird they don't support Apple products. 

I actually considered sending it back, selling my GH3/GH4 and getting 2 GX85. The image in 4K is probably better, but I'm not sure it's worth loosing Cine profiles, slow motion, vari-angle screen, batterylife, etc. I haven't seen any info on the crop either. As I said earlier I think the GH5 is gonna rock, so it's probably best to wait another 6 months!

[Cinegain]

I see they have another YT-channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTfbWPH2Mb0uV3WfjGcYLMg (via their EU Support page). With e.g.

 

So I take it you have both the GH3 and GH4? Then I would just swap out the GH3 for one GX80/85. The 5-axis B.I.S. or Dual IS even is worth some of the trade-offs, but you wouldn't want to lose the options the GH4 provides... so keep that one around a little longer until the GH5 arrives. Yeah, that has got to be a sick camera! It has to surpass the GH4, GX85, BMMCC and A6300, so on the one hand I like they're taking their time, hopefully it will be all we need it to be and more. Definitly worth to wait and see what it will be about. I'm probably going to sell off my D5300 and get the GX80 instead, but it will be rough losing the 24MP APS-C option for stills, especially the Nikon color and organic rendering too. Still though, in-body stabilization is a great tool, but a different one than a gimbal stabilizer is. So, I think getting it to work or getting a replacement is still the better option than calling it quits. Unless you just wanted steady footage, rather than adding fluid motion to shots... but you're right, the GX80 looks rather compelling, but I thought the same about the A6300 at first... and finally didn't end up getting that one either. Time will tell. Anyways. Good luck!

[Fredrik Lyhne]

That's the videos I used when I was balancing and trying to upgrade. 

I have both and the plan was to replace them with 2 GH5's. Didn't expect any Panasonic cameras to have BIS that good (!) and for most part BIS is all I need. That opinion might change after using the H2 for a while though  But seriously, a set consisting off 2 GX85 or 2 GH5's with native lenses would make an exceptional kit for run & gun and travel! 

I might get 2-3000 NOK for GH3 and GX85 is 7500 NOK. I saw you got a G7 for 4000 SEK (NOK) in Sweden and Cyberphoto had the same price for G7 in Norway a while back, so I will definitely get one if there's a similar deal for GX85  

In the second video it would be nice if he explained what he is adjusting, and do you have to do this or is it optional? I think Dave also said you can use straight out of the box and tune if you like to. They should really hire someone who speaks English to make complete guides of everything. 

I'll let you know when I'm out flying!

[Fredrik Lyhne]

Update on the H2!

First off all, the unit I received was not working straight out of the box as advertised. I don't know if was unlucky as I got one of the first shipments, 28th March. Unfortunately support was limited to short sentences and the fix was not very intuitive, at least for a Mac user. 

Here's how I got my unit working:

1. The USB cable that came with the product was not recognized by my Mac or my friends PC. We unscrewed the handle and tried another cable (the lock-ring on the handle is blocking the USB-entrance so you're supposed to use the the supplied cable which is a bit longer). 

2. We managed to establish a connection with a PC and update the firmware as described in Team Pilotfly's video, see Cinegain's latest post. Note that you need a PC to update the firmware, doesn't work with mac.

3. After the firmware was updated I mounted the handle and tried to connect with the supplied USB cable to my mac, and it worked. Go figure!? It's also possible to adjust the settings via USB to Mac or via Bluetooth, but you need a freaking PC to update the firmware!! I adjusted the settings as described in the video. 

I haven't tested the unit outside yet, but it seems to be working as it should. It's exhausted from trial and error and is charging right now. I will post some tests later today or tomorrow.

 

Vari-angle screen mode for GH4 etc

1. IMO the unit is not designed to have the motor on the right to make space for a vari-angle screen but it is possible according to Pilotfly.

2. Only problem is that it's not working for me and at least one other commenter on the video that describes the procedure! The motors are working to hard causing heavy shakes, rolling shutter and noise. 

3. Home mode doesn't work, and they haven't said anything about whether they are working on a solution or not. 

4. The extra safety pin on the baseplate/cameraplate is not compatible in this mode so make sure to tighten the srew. (Not a big deal)

 

The last thing is that you can hear the motors buzzing (in a quiet room) when they're compensating for movement. I don't know if this is normal for all of these devices?  

Footage coming soon! hopefully...

[Cinegain]

Man, I love the sequences where he walks and controls pan/tilt on this thing simultaneously:

Back to what you're saying. Yeah, it's pretty much voodoo magic hocus pocus what those settings are, I have no idea, but I guess that's something you just got to learn when you're using these PID based devices. Something you probably get to terms with in no time.

Good to hear, eventhough a little troublesome, atleast you've got your unit working now. I gotta say, I'd be pretty interested in seeing the bad side documented as well, how does that 'heavy shakes, rolling shutter and noise' really manifest itself? Of course it would be sweet to checkout some footage where's it's working at its finest, which I hope it will for you! I assume motor noise is normal. Thanks for sharing your journey with the H2 with us. I hope you'll manage to get it to work the way you need it to.

[photographer-at-large]

CAME-Optimus, successor to CAME-Single:

http://www.came-tv.com/cameoptimus-3-axis-gimbal-camera-32bit-boards-with-encoders-p-815.html

 

More from Filmpower:

http://www.4kshooters.net/2016/04/15/nab-2016-new-filmpower-nebula-4100-3-axis-stabilizer-roxor-pro-4k-roxor-360-vr-3k-gimbal-camera/

[Fredrik Lyhne]

52 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

Man, I love the sequences where he walks and controls pan/tilt on this thing simultaneously:

Back to what you're saying. Yeah, it's pretty much voodoo magic hocus pocus what those settings are, I have no idea, but I guess that's something you just got to learn when you're using these PID based devices. Something you probably get to terms with in no time.

Good to hear, eventhough a little troublesome, atleast you've got your unit working now. I gotta say, I'd pretty interested in seeing the bad side documented as well, how does that 'heavy shakes, rolling shutter and noise' really manifest itself? Of course it would be sweet to checkout some footage where's it's working at its finest, which I hope it will for you! I assume motor noise is normal. Thanks for sharing your journey with the H2 with us. I hope you'll manage to get it to work the way you need it to.

Get that man an English interpreter!!

It really looks amazing! He made a video with PID settings for A6300 + 10-18 which is 629 grams, which is roughly a GH4 with 15mm. I will give the settings a try when I have time. It's raining here but I did a short test with GH4 + 12-35mm and the pistol grip yesterday. It's pretty heavy and the footage was bouncy, not worth uploading. It was my first try with a gimbal but I have to see how it works to figure out how to use it.

As you know Yoshihide is using the 2-hand handle and his own optimized PID settings. If you haven't used a gimbal before don't expect anything like Dave's first test though. It's a lot harder than it looks. 

The heavy shakes etc only occurs when I tried to flip to motor to use the vari-angle screen and before I managed to update the unit. I could upload some footage but wouldn't it be fair to let them try to sort it out first? 

If the weather allows it I will do some test with the 15mm during the weekend. 

[dafreaking]

I don't understand why none of these one handed ones have the motor on the right so you can flip out the screens.

[Fredrik Lyhne]

Sorry guys but I'm cutting my losses and sending it back. I tried to load Yoshihide PID settings and Pilotfly's settings that they posted on facebook yesterday and it just keeps freaking out. I had to unscrew the handle back and forth to change settings and switching between different USB cables, sometimes bluetooth works and sometimes not. I've been getting a lot of error messages. But I assume all gimbal manufacturers buy boards from BaseCam Electronics and uses their software, so I'm not sure who to blame, Pilotfly, BaseCam or myself. 

Maybe I just got a bad one, who knows. This gimbal might be easy to balance, but if you want your footage to look like Dave's or Yoshihide's you better start learning PID and spend a lot of time learning to walk. The H2 sure has plenty of potential and the 2-hand handle is really nice, but for my needs I rather get a GX85 for now and wait for the GH5. 

A lot of people are having great results with DS1, H1+ and a few with H2 so far, but unfortunately I'm not one of them. Cinegain stated in an earlier post that he wanted something idiot proof, and in my experience the H2 is not. 

[jonpais]

+ Fredrik Thanks, you saved me from spending another $1,000. I bought the Nebula 4000 when it came out and could never even get the camera to balance properly. I don't want to mess around with PID settings either. 

[animan]

On 4/14/2016 at 10:11 PM, Fredrik Lyhne said:

2. Only problem is that it's not working for me and at least one other commenter on the video that describes the procedure! The motors are working to hard causing heavy shakes, rolling shutter and noise. 

Seems like they removed that video showing how to swap the motor side, kind of silly if it doesnt work as its in all their marketing materials, why do these companies insist on putting the motor on the wrong side!

DS1 is still looking good..

[sgreszcz]

9 hours ago, jonpais said:

+ Fredrik Thanks, you saved me from spending another $1,000. I bought the Nebula 4000 when it came out and could never even get the camera to balance properly. I don't want to mess around with PID settings either. 

Same reasons why I sold my DS1.  I saw great things shot with it, and the price is right, but I need something a little less time consuming and foolproof which is why I'm going to look at the DJI Osmo for now.

[Fredrik Lyhne]

12 hours ago, jonpais said:

+ Fredrik Thanks, you saved me from spending another $1,000. I bought the Nebula 4000 when it came out and could never even get the camera to balance properly. I don't want to mess around with PID settings either. 

Agreed. I think on the Came TV gimbal's you actually can't mess around with PID settings, but I'm done with gimbals for a while. Let's wait and see how Panasonic B.I.S works!

[shooter]

6 hours ago, Fredrik Lyhne said:

Agreed. I think on the Came TV gimbal's you actually can't mess around with PID settings, but I'm done with gimbals for a while. Let's wait and see how Panasonic B.I.S works!

Is Came TV a safe bet on settings?

[DPStewart]

On 4/15/2016 at 4:00 AM, dafreaking said:

I don't understand why none of these one handed ones have the motor on the right so you can flip out the screens.

The Beholder DS1 is this way. One of the reasons I dig it.

[dafreaking]

I really wonder why DJI hasn't got one out as yet (can't count the OSMO as you have to use the X3 or X5)

[blafarm]

1 minute ago, dafreaking said:

I really wonder why DJI hasn't got one out as yet (can't count the OSMO as you have to use the X3 or X5)

I assume they would rather have control of the entire device (stabilizer/software/camera) -- than deal with myriad customer service problems caused by different camera/lens combinations, software settings and operator errors.

At the same time, in spite of having complete control, I've read a number of posts regarding performance issues with the OSMO.

At least DJI can attempt to address those problems knowing that the hardware in the field that's been sold is uniform.